A variety of injection molded parts are made and used for automobile body and trim parts. For example, bumpers, spoilers, body panels, doors, filler panels, side sill garnishes, rocker panels, wheel covers, dashboards, armrests, and other parts are commonly made by injection molding of thermoplastic materials.
These plastic parts often have attachment means on the back or hidden surface in order to affix them to or mount them on an automobile. A common method of attaching plastic parts to automotive vehicles involves providing a plurality of clip housings on the backside of the plastic part. The clip housings are often molded on the backside of the part simultaneously with the molding of the part itself. The clip housings generally provide stand off surfaces to which mounting clips are attached. The plastic part may then be mounted on the automobile by aligning the mounting clips with corresponding holes or openings in the automobile, and pressing the plastic part into position. The mounting clips thereby exert a force to positively retain the plastic part against the automobile. Clip housings often become damaged and cause visible sink marks. Furthermore, such conventional designs result in complicated tooling due to angled lifters to form these clip house features.
Having regard to FIG. 1, a conventional prior art assembled molded fastener is shown using a secondary clip attachment 100, such as a push-in fastener, on an automotive vehicle molding 102. The push-in fastener 100 is mounted on a platform 104. Each push-in fastener 100 includes a lower body 106 having a pair of channels 108′, 108″ which slidably receive the sides of the slot 110 in the platform 104 and a post-shaped upper body 112 perpendicular to the lower body 106. The lower body 106 further includes a pair of hooks 114′, 114″ (only hook 114′ is shown in FIG. 1) which snap into respective windows 116′, 116″ in the platform to prevent dislodgment of the push-in fastener from the slot 110. The upper body 112 has a pair of tangs 118′, 118″. With the push-in fasteners 100 snapped into platform 104, the automotive vehicle molding 102 can be fastened to an automotive vehicle by snapping the upper body 112 of the push-in fastener 100 into respective recesses of the automotive vehicle to install molding 102 thereon.
Such standard designs of using secondary clip attachments on automotive vehicle moldings are relatively costly due to the fact they require separate tooling and assembly equipment in addition to extra labor costs. Furthermore, such prior art fasteners often become damaged and cause visible sink marks.
It is desirable to provide an automotive vehicle plastic panel having an integrally molded fastener.
It is further desirable to provide an automotive vehicle plastic panel with an integrally molded fastener at a reduced cost and with improved strength.